Queensland deforestation policy failing to meet expectations

Australia has some of the highest rates of private land deforestation in the world, despite policies designed to prevent the practice.

University of Queensland researchers have conducted what they believe to be the first robust analysis of a policy’s ability to reduce deforestation of remnant trees in Queensland, amid debate about policy effectiveness and the significant costs to farmers and graziers.

The study measured whether Queensland’s controversial Vegetation Management Act 1999 had reduced deforestation of remnant trees in the Brigalow Belt South, a biodiversity hotspot on the Queensland-New South Wales border.